Calo Me Lare is a beautiful place! This is where the Project
Hope Worldwide children live. It is in Northern Uganda. Uganda has been called
the Breadbasket of Africa and you
will soon see why.
It is hard to capture the rolling hills and beautiful
foliage of Calo Me Lare (Village of Redemption) with a camera, but Dennis has
done his best to give you a glimpse.
Our first photo is the driveway leading from the gate to the
Administration Building. Actually, this photo is taken from the Admin Building
looking toward the gate.
The Admin Building was designed by our first Director, Andy
Flege who along with his wife Cami began directing this monumental work. They
are skilled cabinet makers, so we were very fortunate to have him design many
of the buildings at CML.
The homes are built in circles. We currently have 1-1/2 circles and when funds become available Project Hope Worldwide plans to complete the second circle. Each circle contains 8 homes with an open building in the center which we call the Center House. This is the meeting place for children and Moms who live in the homes.
Each home contains 8 children, either girls or boys and a house mother who is a widow. Our original intention was to care for the widows and orphans. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” (James 1:27) We have a mixture of children and moms from different tribes in Uganda. The mothers love the Lord and train the children in the ways of the Lord, teaching them responsibility and building character into their lives.
We have a playground and a full-sized football (soccer)
field which the kids use a lot! They always have the ingenuity to come up with
new games, i.e. dodgeball with and old rolled-up sock.
We have three classroom structures which currently house
Primary and Nursery classrooms. Our oldest children are finishing P7 (primary
level of education) and we are working toward adding the senior level beginning
in January 2018. The school is open to the community and currently there are
about 250 students.
Our Medical Clinic was a huge gift to Project Hope Worldwide
by generous donors! It was completed around 2014. We are so happy that one of
the young men from our church at CML completed his education as a Clinical
Officer and is now practicing at the clinic. We have a lab and this Medical
Clinic can service not only the needs of our own children, house moms and
staff, but also the surrounding community. This is such a huge blessing to the
project!
This is the church building, thanks to the generosity of
donors to Project Hope Worldwide. We must say, this church was God’s idea and
as always, it has been wonderful!!! When the first children came in the Moms,
the Directors, Administrators and their families began teaching them Bible
Stories and worshipping with them on Sundays. When the group became too large
for the Center House they moved to a large room in the Admin Building and
invited the community to join them. When we arrived in 2012 there was breathing
room only! The church was built and a
pastor was called. The pastor’s and director’s homes were built the same year.
Now the church is thriving!!! About 200 people attend each Sunday.
This is the Drip Irrigation Garden installed in July. It is
a joint effort of PHW and Field of Hope. The garden is fed from a well on the
property powered by a solar pump. We are harvesting tomatoes and green peppers
now. Pumpkins, egg plants, onions, carrots, watermelon and cabbage are growing also.
This promises to be an amazing blessing during the dry season. The peppers and tomatoes are some of the first produce from that garden. It rivals any from Lira markets!
PHW has purchased a piece of land across the swamp where
maize (corn) is being grown. Maize is a staple in Uganda. The maize is eaten
fresh or ground into “posho flour”, the main starch used in the diet of
Northern Ugandans. We also have an orchard with oranges and mangoes. Cassava is
grown on campus also.
We have begun a poultry business, where we are raising about
550 chicks. Some will be used for meat and about ¼ of them will produce eggs
for those living in the homes. This was a gift from the government of Uganda to
help these children. We are grateful to the government for them and are
thankful that God put it in their hearts to help some of Uganda’s most vulnerable
children!
Thank you again for visiting our blog and visiting Calo Me Lare! Thank you for your prayers for the children, staff and us. They are very much needed and appreciated!
If you want more information about Project Hope Worldwide in general or about sponsoring a child, please visit the website, http://www.projecthopeworldwide.org.